"I must turn over a new leaf," said Tom, little dreaming what a painful turning over it was to be. He had promised Elsie he would do this after Christmas, and had thought no more about the matter, and he went off now trying to forget it.
Poor, foolish Tom! It was not difficult to forget all his promises to Elsie, about turning over a new leaf by-and-bye. He little guessed that it would soon be uncertain whether he would ever again have the opportunity of turning over a new leaf. There seemed plenty of time now, and Tom quite intended to be a good boy, and help his mother and sister by-and-bye.
That thief of time and present opportunity, "by-and-bye," so easily persuaded the foolish boy that he need not think of these things just yet. That he could forget them, and enjoy himself, and leave the future to take care of itself, without thinking of other people, and their claims upon him.
[CHAPTER V.]
TOM'S ILLNESS.
A FEW days after the incident of the torn jacket, Tom woke one morning feeling heavy and drowsy, and when he got downstairs, he complained of having a headache and sore throat. He could not eat his breakfast, and his mother told him he had better go back to bed again, as he had evidently caught a severe cold.
"You have got your feet wet, I expect, and not changed your boots as soon as you came home," said Mrs. Winn, "although I have often heard Elsie tell you to do it."
There had been a long continuance of wet weather, and Bobbie and baby had both been poorly from colds and coughs, and so Mrs. Winn was not in the least alarmed about Tom.
He was asleep at dinner time when his mother went to his room to see what he would have, but soon after she went back to her work, he called to Elsie to bring him some water.
"I am so thirsty," he said, when his sister took him some drink.